Since we shouldn't really think too much, one main thought: for the contact point, open/release/turn the shoulders slightly more during forward swing, depending on your technique, sort of like having your right shoulder pointing towards the general direction where you want to hit. After making contact, let your body fully release.

Hit the ball further out in front. Imagine hitting the outer part of the ball.

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This x 1000. If you can't hit a solid crosscourt ball, you're almost certainly hitting late. I would know, I have the same problem sometimes. Make sure your swing path is going more through the line of the ball, with the contact point out in front, roughly creating a vertical line with the toe of your hitting leg (right for righties).

Happens to me some too. People THINK I have a really good DTL backhand. Problem is that SOMETIMES it was not supposed to be a dtl shot.
I completely agree with hitting it more in front. I let the racquet whip a little more to come around it if I want to really get a wide cross court.

Often my problem comes from the feet. If your feet don't get you there in time, or you are not set up well, your body will do the best it can to work with what you gave it.

Take a look at your preparation to see if you are giving yourself the opportunity to hit the ball out in front. If not, fix that.

PRACTICE 50 self drop feeds a day CC, and 25 DTL. Establish your contact point on each shot, recognize the difference, remember the difference and the contact point of each, then go hit with a partner.

learn to add more rotational component to your 1hbh. not the hip rotation but upper body coil and uncoil in horizontal direction. even more closed stance and un cork. traditional 1hbh myth is the shoulder rotation is minimal which is not true. shoulder should go from the front of the chest to completely opening of the chest as the arm is supinating. make sure your neck is able to rotate freely and powerfully. during the stroke head should be still but the shoulder below it should be able to rotate in that manner.

As said, above, get to the ball early so you can set up with your body (hips) lined up with the direction you want to drive the ball. Imagine an arrow running straight through the ball and pointing toward your intended placemnet. Then drive through the ball, striking it at the point where the feathered end "emerges", then follow through, low to high, in the direction of the pointy end.

what? I'm so confused. I thought that ideally, you are just supposed to set up slightly more angled and hit the way you always do. Like how you set up a serve on the deuce side is gonna be slightly more angled to give you the same vantage point.

Of course I know shots are better off disguised as you get higher up the NTRP, but it really shouldn't make a real difference until...5.0? I just saw myself on video and i hit like a 0.98 ntrp, but I think this is one of those things that rec players tend to over think. Its like me thinking about poly. I just plain shouldn't rofl. But that didnt stop me.

Usually, we teach children to adjust their preparation to fit their target -- that is, you prepare just the same for all shots, but your body's angle with the net is different.

If you want to take it up a notch as you get good, you can try to rush a bit your stroke to make a contact further out in front, so you pull the ball even more at an angle cross-court. But, you shouldn't complicate things for no reason too often -- mathematically, it risks to cost you over many attempts, although it may pay off if you do it very selectively.

There are some a bit different in contact points on swing, and hitting spots on ball :
● down-the-line to down-the-line
● down-the-line to cross-court
● down-the-line to in-side-out
● cross-court to down-the-line
● cross-court to cross-court
● cross-court to in-side-out
Do the shadow swings, observe by yourself, understand your own swing, and go out to the court to practice.